


A Scavenger and A Queen

by writer_in_training_wheels



Category: Original Work
Genre: Dragon & Human Interactions, Dragon x Human x Elf - Freeform, Dragons, Elves, Elves & Human Interactions, Eventual Romance, F/F, Fantasy, Original Character(s), Original Story - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-12-26 20:18:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18289505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writer_in_training_wheels/pseuds/writer_in_training_wheels





	A Scavenger and A Queen

Our tale takes place during a time when dragons rule the sky and elves still walk amongst humans. In this world, we focus on a land mass with a unique terrain on it. A land that is called home by several different species. The cold land of Folkre.

To the north of this land, you encounter the Fea Kingdom. A kingdom closed off to the rest of the nation, once ruled by a heartless king. The three cities were designed as three separate functioning kingdoms, each to be governed by his three daughters after his passing. However, one of his daughters ran away leaving her territory to be ruled by one of her equally heartless sisters. Together the two sisters rule the Fea Kingdom with strict rules and relations on not allowing any outsider that is not an elf or Fairy into the kingdom.

To the west, you have the Human Capital. The humans have most of the land under their control with various town scattered about. While some are close to the capital and are constructed out the most excellent material, some further away are constructed from wood of the surrounding forest. The humans are generally very accepting of most creatures living in the same town as them they are also a bit discriminating. Just make sure you stay in the right crowd, and you’ll be fine.

To the south is Dragon Mountain. A group of mountains that is believed to house many dragons inside. No creature has ever dared to come close to the mountain, much less go inside it. Even the elves, their life long enemy, don’t dare to venture inside the deadly mountain. They used to attack human towns and villages for taking their eggs and young, thankfully a treaty had been made within the past century. The humans would not hunt the dragons, and in return, the dragons would not attack the humans without proper reasoning.

To the east, we have the dense Mystical Forest. While it does cover most of the land, the east remains mostly untouched. Many creatures live amongst the forest with the freedom to roam as they please. Griffins, unicorns, trolls, you name it, it lives in the woods. The forest covers most of the land and can be very dangerous to travel at night. Very few travel at night, taking a gamble as to whether they will see the light of morning or not.

Finally, in the middle of this country, there used to be a wild meadow that homed many wild and rare flowers along with herbs. Now rests an abandoned battleground, a great war was caused by the Dragons and the Elves. It is only known as Death’s Valley, and any who dare to enter are said to die a most painful death in the coming days.

During the battle, many loved ones lost their friends and families for their cause. Thankfully the Gods of the land managed to stop the two sides from fighting, saying that if they were to continue fighting, there wouldn’t be any land to be ruled by anyone. The two came to an agreement stating the dragons would take the mountains of the south and the elves would take their kingdom of the north. However, the battle had already left a horrible mark on the land for many years to come.

Many centuries have passed since this horrible battle took place. Many things haven’t changed on the land. But that will soon be wrong, for a young and kind maiden is about to make a journey. A journey that will bring this country together in peace, even if she is unaware of it. Let us begin our tale, a tale, unlike the ones you’ve heard before.

Amongst the handful of human town and villages, there is one particular village that we’ll talk about first. The village of Woodpine, a small town that has been forgotten by most of the human kingdom but some call home. It is mostly made of wood due to being abandoned. However, it is kept in good condition, thanks to the townsfolk!

Amongst the buildings there lies a tavern and inn, run by a sweet old man. His name is Dragomir Firmin Psyche, he makes sure the tavern is in prime condition. He welcomes most people with a friendly smile that familiarity, even at the rare, new customers. It’s tough for anyone to hate the old man. In fact, very few- if any- hate him, but he always tries to help everyone to the best of his ability.

The tavern was run by his son and daughter-in-law; however, their house had caught on fire with them and their daughter inside. The only one to survive was their child, barely at the young age of five. She was rescued by a stranger who was exploring the forest and happened upon their house that was a bit away from the village. Since then Dragomir’s granddaughter has lived with him at the inn.

The granddaughter's name is Dalia Laima Psyche, she is as kind as she fair. She greets everyone with a bright smile on her face. She loves to explore the village and the nearby forest, she seems to know the woods like the back of her hand. She can even travel the nearby woods at night and come back in one piece. So as a way to help with money around the tavern and inn, she scavenges for things during the night when no one wants to go out. This wouldn’t be that bad if the village weren’t right next to Dragon Mountain.

It was a pleasant evening in Woodpine, the tavern was filled with various villagers having a good time. Dalia was coming down the stairs from the inn portion of the building. She was flattening out her long, pale pink dress that had a satchel tied around her waist to give her a pocket to put stuff in.. Dalia waved to the people waved to her and bid her ‘good evening.’ Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she saw her grandfather flag her over. Walking over to the counter with a group of three individuals she’s never seen before. They were in suits of armor and swords on their hips. Looking at her grandfather with confusion in her eyes.

“Everything okay, Popa?” Dalia asked looking at him, the old man just chuckled and gestured to the group of knights. He walked over to some other patrons as the knights turned to Dalia. 

“You must be Dalia, yes?” asked the Knight closest to her, he was in pure silver armor except for his helmet, which was on the counter. He had tanned skin with dark brown eyes and dirty blond messy hairy. He also seemed to have a scare that went over his lips.

Dalia nodded to the first knight’s question. 

“Then is it true that you can scavenge in the forest at night?” The second knight asked he was also in a suit of silver and his helmet was also off. He had black slicked back hair, pale skin. He had light green eyes and a beautiful smile on his face. Amongst the three of them, he seemed the most friendly and most comfortable to talk to.

Daila nodded once again; the knights seemed to brighten up at this. 

“Excellent! Then we have two requests for you! We need help finding a certain flower that apparently used to grow in the Death’s Valley. The Queen has requested that we find it for her, but we have yet to find it. We’re hoping you find it for us!” Said the final knight, like the others, he was in a silver suit with his helmet on the counter. He had light brown, wavy hair. Pale tan skin with dark brown eyes.

Dalia raised an eyebrow and hummed.

“Alright, what flower are you guys looking for?” Dalia asked with a smile. The Knights pulled out a rolled up paper and handed it to Dalia. She unrolled it and looked at the image on the paper. It was a rose with a light blue inside that fades to a midnight indigo color. Dalia hummed and thought, analyzing the picture before smiling. “Alright! I do believe I’ve seen this flower before! So I’ll go ahead and get ready to head out.”

Rolling up the picture she started to walk away but was stopped by the knights.

“How much will we owe you?” The brunette asked, Dalia, chuckled and shook her head.

“Well, that’s hard to say at the moment. I could find the flower, I could also not find the flower. There could be dangers, there could not be dangers. So I don’t ask for any money until I return from the trip.” Dalia said with a gentle smile walking over to the coat rack where her dark blue cloak that was just hanging there. The three knights were following her to the door.

“Well, we ask that you travel safely. There are rumors that there are dragon hunters in the forest.” The knight with light green eyes said with concern in his voice. Dalia froze with slight fear at the mention of ‘dragon hunters.’ Dragon hunting was outlawed due to the treaty made with dragons. Due to this, dragon hunters are rather ruthless and terrifying, they’re known for killing whoever they think is a threat. Dalia took a deep breath and grabbed her hand woven basket with a lamp and knife inside. She turned to the men and smiled at them.

“Thank you for informing me, I’ll make sure I’m cautious! Have a good night, fair knights!” With that Dalia left the tavern, and took a look at the sky. It was slightly darker than she expected it to be. While it wasn’t pitch black outside, it was going to be that dark soon. She pulled out her lantern and sat her basket down. She gently took on of the torches that lit up the doorway to the tavern and lit her lantern. She put the flame back, picked up her basket, and went into the forest.

Time seemed to fly as Dalia was going deeper and deeper into the woods. The sky grew darker as the night grew longer as Dalia scavenged the floor of the forest. She made sure she was careful as to not get too close to the Dragon Mountain. It acted as a landmark for her to reference how far or close she was to the village. Judging by the mountain, she was much farther then she’d like to be. She was too close to the mountain for her liking! Taking a deep breath, she kept her thoughts together and kept looking. Taking the paper out from her basket to take another look at the flower’s image, she let out a sigh of irritation.

“I could’ve sworn the flower was around here somewhere.” With a groan she put the paper back in her basket and kept walking, using her lantern to light up her path. 

Suddenly out of the corner of her eye she something move in the darkness. Turning quickly, she held her lantern in front of her but seemed to pale at what greeted her eyes. It was an older looking man, he had many scars all over his visible skin. He had messy brown hair, tan skin, and deep blue eyes. He was wearing soot-covered and damaged armor, with a sword and shield strapped to his back along with a dagger on his hip. Under his armor was a lot of fire protection clothing from the looks of it. The clear look of a dragon hunter!

“Oh! It is only a fair maiden! Apologies for scaring you just now. You can never be too cautious with this forest, you know?” The dragon hunter justed to the surrounding area. Dalia nodded her head, not daring to say anything to the hunter. “Well off topic, why is a fair maiden such as yourself doing out here this time of night?” Dalia gulped and took a deep breath before speaking.

“I-I’m out looking for a r-rare flower,” Dalia spoke, the fear is as clear as day in her voice. The hunter hummed in slight confusion.

“What flower could be so important that a lovely maiden, such as yourself, would risk their life for?” The hunter asked in confusion, Dalia quickly shook her head.

“Oh no no, it’s not for me, a group of… gentlemen asked me to look for this flower.” Dalia had almost said ‘knights,’ but that probably wouldn’t have been a good idea. The man hummed then smirked.

“Well if that’s the case, why don’t you come back with me to where my friends and I have set up camp. We can help you find whatever flower you’re looking for!” The man smiled at Dalia, who was a little surprised at the offer. She took a deep breath and nodded, willing to follow the man. “Amazing! Follow me!” The hunter turned and walked away, Dalia quickly followed behind the hunter, that way he didn’t snap at her. Soon the two came across a small camp that had two other men already there, both had similar features to the hunter that was guiding Dalia to the camp.

“Ah, welcome back Pegos, did you find out what that light was?” One of the other two hunters asked he had messy black hair with dark green eyes. The other hunter perked up, he had blond hair and sky blue eyes. Both men had a lot of visible scars. The man, apparently Pegos, nodded.

“Indeed I did, and it was actually this fair maiden right here!” Stepping aside, Dalia quickly jumped and bowed to the men.

“Gr-greetings fair men, my name is Dalia, Dalia Laima Psyche.” The men smiled at her, it seemed kind and reassuring, it did nothing to calm her nerves.

“No need to be scared we mean no harm to you, unlike those guys over there.” The blond hunter said pointing to something next to Dalia. When she looked to where the hunter was pointing, she nearly jumped out of her skin at what met her eyes. 

There were various cages next to her, all with different animals! A unicorn that is normally only found up north, six pegasi, two griffins, four centars, three Manticores, one hippogriff, two baskilist, one cimarea, at least fourteen baby dragons and finally two dragon eggs that was cracking and adding two more baby dragons to the count. Dalia’s eyes were wide at the sight of these creatures, she’s only heard myths and legends of these creatures, never daring to go look for one. Eventually, Pegos snapped her out of her shook.

“Hey, Dalia? Isn’t that the flower your looking for?” The said girl jumped and looked at Pegos who was pointing to a flower that was right next to the hunter with black hair, across the fire. Dalia gasped and smiled with joy.

“Yes, it is!” Dalia walked over to the flower, and gently sat her basket down, and pulled out the dagger and piece of paper with the image of the flower on it. Dalia noticed that the green-eyed hunter she was next to gasped and took her dagger. Dalia jumped and turned to the man in shock.

“How could you hope to kill anything with this dull piece of metal!” The man exclaimed before turning to Dalia with confusion in his eyes, Dalia gently took the dagger back.

“It’s not meant for killing, it’s meant to help me cut things if I need to. I bring it with me out of habit.” Dalia explained with a calm voice as she sat the dagger down next to her and looked back at the flower, trying to think of the best way to unbury the floor so the roots would stay intact.

“What if you need to defend yourself from a savage beast?” The blond hunter asked, Dalia simply shrugged.

“Well, I never really have to, but if I do, I know how to get something’s attention off me,” Dalia spoke as she pushed her hand into the earth’s surface and pulled the dirt out, along with the flower and it's rooted, before putting it into the basket.

“What if it’s a dragon!” Pegos asked, Dalia, froze and looked at the baby dragons, who seemed to be shaking in fear.

“Well, I’m not too sure, I hope to never get on a dragon’s bad side. So I do everything I can not.” Dalia smiled, putting the dagger and paper back into the basket. She covered it with the lid of the basket and stood up with a smile. The three hunters sighed and shook their head. Eventually, Pegos spoke up once more.

“Well is there anything else you may be looking for? We’d be more than willing to help if so even if it means one of us need to walk you back to the nearest village.”

Dalia froze up at this glancing at the caged up animals, She couldn’t just leave them there, could she? Looking around, she’d have to think of an idea, and quickly! Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a solution. A red rose, perfect! “Um, yes there is actually! I’m trying to make a bouquet of roses, for… decoration in my Popa’s tavern! I need a lot of roses, and I would be so happy if you guys would help!” She got up, pulling out her dagger, she went to the rose she saw and gently cut the stem of the rose. Holding it out to the men, who smiled.

“Oh, sure! There are plenty of rose bushes nearby, we could split up and gather as many roses as we can find!” The blond hunter said with enthusiasm, causing the other hunters to nod. The four of them had agreed to go in separate directions to gather the most roses possible! They all started to walk away, but after a moment of silence to push the fact the hunters were indeed looking for flowers, Dalia ran back to the camp and to the cages. The creatures started to act up, but she quickly quieted them down.

“I need you guys to be quiet, I have a plan to get you guys out of these cages, but I need you guys to work with me!” Dalia spoke in a hushed whisper, the animals quickly calmed down, listening to Dalia. “Okay, so I’ll pick the lock on the cages and open them, but don’t run out just yet. Wait until the hunters and myself come back with roses then you can run as fast as you can. Make sense?” The animals nodded, and Dalia sighed in relief.

She began to pick the locks with her dagger and quickly made her way across the cages, leaving them slightly open when she was done. Once the entire process was complete, Dalia stood back to make sure all the cages were open. With a sigh of relief and a ‘good luck’ to the animals. Dalia ran off to quickly find a bush of red roses, which thankfully wasn’t too hard. After some time, Dalia heard the sounds of animals going wild, and what sounded like a man yelping in surprise. Gathering the rest of her roses, she ran back to find Pegos on the ground coughing.

“Pegos! Are you okay?” Dalia asked setting the bouquet of roses aside and ran over to the fallen man. Soon enough the other hunters came back.

“Pegos, what happened here?” The hunters asked as Pegos got to his feet, said man looked at the cages.

“The… the beasts got out somehow, did anyone see anything?” Everyone shook their heads. “Great, now we lost those beasts, and they're probably long gone by now!” Dalia let out a sigh of sadness.

“I-I’m sorry, it’s probably my fault. If you guys hadn’t helped me find these flowers, then the creatures wouldn’t have gotten out.” Dalia said with her head hung low, playing the part of an innocent lady, she felt a hand gently pat her head, looking up at the huntsmen. They smiled softly at her. 

“It’s not your fault, come on, why don’t we gather the roses and get you to the nearest village. That way you don’t have to worry about the loose creatures roaming about.” The blond hunter said, everyone, gathered the roses and began walking. Dalia stated that there was a village closer than the one they were thinking of so they agreed to let the young girl lead the way. Soon enough the tavern was in sight! Dalia let out a sigh of relief, walking into the tavern with the hunters in tow. She was surprised to see that her Popa and the three nights were still up, considering it was so late.

“I’m back with more than I expected!” Dalia said with happiness in her voice. The knights and her grandfather turned to Dalia, only to gasp in surprise at what accompanied her. The knights quickly stood up, pulling out their swords.

“STEP AWAY FROM THAT FAIR MAIDEN!” The knights said with a stern voice, causing the group of four to jump. Before the hunters could pull out their own swords, Dalia spoke up.

“Wait! Please, lower your swords! The hunters mean no harm! They only wish to help with the task that you have given me!” The hunters turned to Dalia in shock, the young girl knew they were hunters. “I know they are criminals of the peace treaty made between the humans and the dragons, but please let them rest here, at least for the night!” Dalia explained, with a sigh the knights put their weapons away, agreeing to Dalia’s request. The hunters smiled and thanked Dalia, following the young maiden as she sat all the red roses on a table nearby. The knights approached with slight concern in their eyes.

“Where is the flower we requested?” The knights asked, Dalia, chuckled and sat her basket on the table.

“Do you have a spare bowl, I made sure to get the roots of the flower as well.” Dalia smiled at the knights who quickly scurried away to get a bowl. Pegos and the hunters walked over to Dalia.

“So… let me get this straight; you, a fair maiden, took on a quest from these knights. To go out into the dangers of the night. To get a rare flower… Is this correct?”

Dalia went to respond bu went silent in thought before speaking up once more. “Well, when you put it that way, it sounds like the knights didn’t want to deal with the forest so they sent a little girl in their place.”

“THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT WE’RE SAYING!” The hunters exclaimed as the Knights came back with a bowl.

“I’m sure they have their own reason, I choose not to ask.” Dalia shrugged and took the bowl, pulling out out the flower and putting it in the bowl. She smiled and handed the bowl to the knights. “I do request at least sixty gold for this.”

The knights perked up and smiled, handing the young maiden the bag of gold. “There you go, sixty gold!”

Dalia took the gold and counted out fifteen gold, pulled it out of the bag before handing it to the hunters, everyone's’ eyes widen at this. “There should at least be forty-five gold in there. As a thank you for helping me.” Dalia explained as the hunters took the bag of gold, Dalia bowed and skipped over to her grandfather, handing him the gold. “I’ll help you decorate with the roses tomorrow, I’m going to head to bed.” 

Dragomir smiled and gently took the gold from Dalia’s hands. “Thank you, sweetie, go and rest up now.” With a nod, Dalia skipped up to her room in the inn. Once in the safety of her own room, she dressed into her pajamas and crawled into bed. With the soft sounds of the night coming from her open window, Dalia quickly fell into a slumber.


End file.
